Tuesday 2 September 2014

On starting life as a legitimate adult.

It's been about 3 weeks since I moved to Baltimore. And now I realize what being an adult really means.

You're not an adult when you're 18. You're an adult when you sign a lease, rent an apartment, buy furniture, pay rent, set up utilities, buy routers and get a new wifi connection, cook, clean the house, create a bank account, use your own debit card and keep track of your finances, sign a bunch of legal papers, make sure you always have your keys, pay electricity and phone bills, shop for groceries - all on your own. And of course manage graduate school at the same time.

Surprisingly, I do have some kind of a social circle already (improvement improvement!) because it tends to get very depressing without human contact. I'm not as bad at meeting people as I used to be, and I don't dislike it. I've been making and effort and it's easier here because people are friendly. I am still to make friends with people in the classes I'm taking, but I think I'll get there.

It's exciting to be at Johns Hopkins - the place is legendary after all. But it's equally terrifying. If I was among the 5 to be entering this program, I apparently can't be all that bad, but I do have a lot of new things to learn. I guess the only way to not be overwhelmed is to try to be more excited than terrified. Not easy, admittedly.

Well, the semester is just about to begin full fledgedly and it's going to be  very busy one. Let's hope I manage to make it through in one piece!